Commonalities
by denise1
Summary: Sam and Jonas find some common ground after their run in with Fifth


Commonalities

By

Denise

Sam made her way through the halls; gladly leaving the bridge in what she hoped was the capable hands of the guys…or at least the autopilot. They were due to rendezvous with Thor soon, surely they could handle things for that long. Right now, she needed to get away, find a little privacy and regroup.

As she walked, her stomach growled, reminding her that it had been nearly twenty-four hours since she'd last eaten and even that had been a quick bite on the way to the airport. No. She stopped and thought. It'd been more like forty-eight or so since they'd been unconscious or at least unaware during the mind probes.

Shaking her head, she continued down the hall. However long it'd been, it was too long judging by the hollow feeling in her stomach. A hollow feeling that matched the one in her soul.

She arrived at the cargo bay and walked in, her heart sinking as she turned on the lights. Perfect. Just fucking perfect. What had once been a storeroom full of food, was now a cavernous room littered with nothing but empty boxes and some overturned crates.

They'd taken it all. Vaguely she remembered Fifth saying something about raiding their stores, but she hadn't imagined them taking everything. A sudden wave of depression washed over her as she turned. They'd be home in a few hours. She could just wait. It wasn't like she was going to starve or anything.

"Sam?" She groaned softly, fighting the urge to turn and go the other way. Instead, she sighed, doing her best to keep her irritation off her face.

"Jonas," she said, turning to face him.

"Are you looking for food?" he asked, joining her.

"It looks like I'm too late," she said, shrugging her shoulders.

"Maybe, maybe not," he said, gesturing with his hand. "Hold on." He turned and opened the door to another cargo hold. He rummaged around for a few seconds and she nearly sighed aloud in frustration. A few seconds later, she turned back, his hands full. "Colonel O'Neill told us to stash this back for you," he explained, holding out a box of ho-ho's and a six pack of diet Coke. "The pop is warm but…" He handed them to her. "Anyway, sorry about the ice cream, not that it'd still be good after all this time."

She took the two items, struggling a bit not to drop the plastic bottles of pop. "Thanks," she said.

He stood there for a second, seemingly uncomfortable. "Umm…I'll aah…I'm sure they need me on the bridge." He turned and walked out of the room.

Sam looked down at the box and bottles. It certainly wasn't the most nutritious of food but…it was food. And Jonas loved his food. "Jonas," she said. He turned back, his face schooled in the nonchalance she'd started to recognize as his way of hiding any hurt feelings. "There's enough for two here," she offered. "Care to join me?"

He smiled and walked back towards her. He picked up an overturned crate and flipped it over, making a makeshift chair. She sat next to him and handed him a bottle of the pop before setting the rest down on the floor. She opened the box and handed him a package of the ho-ho's.

He unwrapped his treat and took a large bite, almost consuming the whole cake at once. "Are you ok?" he asked quietly, unwrapping a second cake.

"What?"

"Something happened after we left, didn't it?"

She took a drink of her pop and sighed. "Yeah."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

She shook her head. "No. I…"

"Ok," he agreed, opening his pop, taking care with the volatile beverage. He unwrapped another cake and handed it to her. She took it and instead of eating it, started to pick it apart, unfolding the layers with deliberate care. "I think we picked up Thor on the long range scanners. We should be home in a couple of hours."

Sam nodded, still not in the mood for conversation. He took another drink of his pop and stood up. "I should get back…"

"I lied to him," she said softly, her eyes focused on the far wall.

He sat back down. "Lied to whom?"

"I told Fifth we'd wait for him." She turned her head to look him in the eyes. "When we set the timer, I told Fifth that we had five minutes and that we'd wait for him and take him back with us. I told him that, as I set the timer for three minutes and knew he'd never make it," she confessed.

"Oh," he said simply. "The colonel ordered you to didn't he?"

"Yeah."

"Well, then you were just following orders."

She shook her head. "That's a cop out. There's following orders and there's following orders. This wasn't…opening hailing frequencies or some crap like that. He risked everything to help us and I looked him in the eyes and lied to him," she said, her stomach rolling in protest of her actions.

"Do you think it would have worked to bring him back? I mean, after what happened with Reese…" he said, his voice showing his discomfort at broaching a possibly touchy topic.

She sighed. "Probably not. Strategically, leaving him behind was the best thing to do. In fact, we should ask Thor to scan this ship thoroughly to make sure we don't have any stowaways." She sighed again. "It being a good strategic decision doesn't make me feel any better."

"I remember, looking through Earth's history, several hundred years ago there was a plague," he said.

Sam nodded. "Black Death. It hit Europe three times I think."

"Right. There was this time in London…the people that lived in one area started to get sick and it was the plague. So the city leaders blocked off the area. Everyone, sick and healthy, was sealed in. They basically murdered a few hundred people to save the lives of thousands."

Sam shook her head. "What does this have to do with Fifth?"

"Leaving him behind means that two galaxies are safe," he said softly.

"I guess," she said, picking at the chocolate covering to the cake.

"We could talk to Thor," he offered.

"About what?"

"Tell him to leave a note or something." He shrugged. "Maybe when they figure out now to disable the others, they can spare him," he suggested.

"Maybe." She looked at him. "Unfortunately, we'll both be long dead by then."

"Maybe, maybe not. I mean, for all we know, the Asgard could crack the puzzle next week."

The ship shuddered and she automatically looked up. "Guess we've reached the rendezvous." She set down her ho-ho and stood up. "I guess I should go to the bridge so we can brief Thor." Jonas got up too, quickly swallowing the last of his cake. "Jonas?" He turned to look at her. "Thanks."

"Anytime." He took a drink of his pop, then screw on the cap and set it on the box. She followed suit, then proceeded him out of the cargo bay. They walked down the hall, headed towards the small elevator that would take them to the bridge.

"How about, after we get back and debrief, do you want to grab some dinner?" she asked.

"Sure. I think it's Salisbury Steak day in the commissary," he agreed.

"I actually was thinking of outside the SGC. There's this place called O'Malley's. Do you like steak?"

"Do they have French fries? I'm not too fond of baked potatoes," he said, following her into the lift.

She laughed slightly. "Yeah. They have fries."

"That sounds good," he agreed.

"Ok. It's a plan then."

"There was one more thing I was wondering if you could help me with," he said as the doors opened.

"Sure. What?"

"I was reading some books about entertainment and they mentioned a game called pool."

Fin


End file.
